United Way Services names Ivy Turkington Director of Strategic Planning, Information Technology, Government Relations

(Cleveland, Ohio) February 10, 2003
Ivy B. Turkington has been named director of Strategic Planning, Information Technology and Government Relations for United Way Services, Cleveland. "Ivy is a results-oriented leader with an extensive background in community and government relations, organizational development and strategic planning," said K. Michael Benz, president and chief executive officer of United Way Services. She joined United Way's leadership team this month (Feb. 10).

Turkington recently relocated to the Cleveland area after serving five years as the director of Organization Development for the Tri-Counties Regional Center in Santa Barbara, California, a major non-profit human service agency funded and regulated by the State of California. As a member of the senior leadership team, she created the $110 million organization's Strategic Planning process and needs assessments, initiated the outcome-based service Improvement Cycle, and was the primary liaison to the Center's Board of Directors.

Prior to joining the Center, she was a grants consultant and analyst for the Great Lakes Protection Fund in Chicago, Ill., and previously associate director of Project Embrace in Baltimore, Md. She received her Master of Arts from the University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy Studies. While at St. John's College, Annapolis, Md., she did undergraduate work in philosophy, ethics and history of math and science. Ms Turkington has also worked as an assistant systems administrator, responsible for all aspects of hardware and software for a group at the Naval Research Laboratory.

Ivy and her husband, John Ruhl, moved to Cleveland last spring, after considering national opportunities. "We wanted to live in a friendly, vibrant community where we could both contribute significantly," she says. Dr. Ruhl accepted a position at Case Western Reserve University. They reside in Cleveland Heights.